Food Co-ops in America

In recent years, American shoppers have become more conscious of their food choices and have increasingly turned to CSAs, farmers' markets, organic foods in supermarkets, and to joining and forming new food co-ops. In fact, food co-ops have been a viable food source, as well as a means of collective and democratic ownership, for nearly 180 years.

In Food Co-ops in America, Anne Meis Knupfer examines the economic and democratic ideals of food cooperatives. She shows readers what the histories of food co-ops can tell us about our rights as consumers, how we can practice democracy and community, and how we might do business differently. In the first history of food co-ops in the United States, Knupfer draws on newsletters, correspondence, newspaper coverage, and board meeting minutes, as well as visits to food co-ops around the country, where she listened to managers, board members, workers, and members.

What possibilities for change—be they economic, political, environmental or social—might food co-ops offer to their members, communities, and the globalized world? Food co-ops have long advocated for consumer legislation, accurate product labeling, and environmental protection. Food co-ops have many constituents—members, workers, board members, local and even global producers—making the process of collective decision-making complex and often difficult. Even so, food co-ops offer us a viable alternative to corporate capitalism. In recent years, committed co-ops have expanded their social vision to improve access to healthy food for all by helping to establish food co-ops in poorer communities.

Part II. Food for People or Profit?
7. Food Cooperatives, 1960s–1990s
8. North Coast Co-operatives in Arcata, Eureka, and Fortuna
9. New Pioneer Co-operative Society
10. Cooperatives in the Twin Cities

Epilogue: The Age of the "Organic-Industrial Complex"

Appendix: Website Sources about Food Cooperatives

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Food Co-ops in America

"Skillfully crafted, this study positions the history of food cooperatives as an extension of the histories of consumption in the US by authors such as Tracey Deutsch and Lizabeth Cohen. . . . Knupfer brings to light the significant scale and scope of cooperatives, reminding us in an age of individual responsibility and conscious consumption that collective models succeeded, and continue to succeed today. Her study underscores the importance of local commitments, and the democratic principles and practices that inform cooperatives and the work of building and sustaining community."—Choice (December 2013)

Food Co-ops in America

"In Food Co-ops in America, Anne Meis Knupfer offers a fresh look at a part of the co-op movement that has tended toward the small scale as opposed to many farmer co-operatives, which have often become big businesses.... What remains here of substantial value is the noteworthy fireld research, which will no doubt become the basis of textbooks on food co-ops and other secondary works."—Philip Nelson, The Annals of Iowa (Spring 2014)

Food Co-ops in America

"Anne Meis Knupfer opens her study of food cooperatives in the United States by identifying the growing interest in the politics of eating sparked by best-selling books such as Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Food co-ops—grocery stores collectively owned by members who can participate in management decisions—are largely absent from Pollan's mediation on the 'industrial food system' and the alternatives to it. Knupfer fills the gap, arguing that cooperative grocery retailing

constitutes 'a viable latnerative to corporate capitalism.' The strength of the study is the detailed local history of co-ops located in the Northeast, the Midwest, and in northern California. Knupfer has logged many miles visiting these stores and their archives."—Journal of American History

Food Co-ops in America

"This is a book that will find its way into the hands of several different kinds of readers. Some will welcome it as a useful first effort at chronicling the history of food cooperatives in the United States, while others will read it as an advice manual for today's cooperative movement. . . . The combination of interviews, personal reflections, and archival research presented here makes for a thought-provoking history."—Dona Brown, Vermont History (Summer/Fall 2014)

Food Co-ops in America

"As Anne Meis Knupfer deftly illustrates in Food Co-ops in America, the food cooperative movement worked to define democratic and ethical food buying practices in the United States dating back to the nineteenth century. As such, Knupfer's book is an important contribution to a growing literature that seeks to explore the ways that Americans have wrestled with the implications of food choices throughout the nation's history. Food Co-ops in America illustrates the way that

cooperatives have historically either encouraged or stifled democratic participation, and the book's conclusions clearly illustrate the political implications of emphasizing profit over social consciousness."—Adam D. Shprintzen, American Historical Review

Food Co-ops in America

"Food Co- ops in America is researched superbly and written with engaging narrative style. Knupfer's special attention to the historical archives of the individual coops is especially impressive, and her bibliography is exhaustive. The work should be appealing to anyone interested in cooperatives, food ethics, community economics, and the history of the contemporary "food scene." But the work also resonates with its insightful analysis of the success, and pitfalls, of community democracy in the modern era." —Eric Mogren, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (Vol. 108, No. 2, 2015)

Food Co-ops in America

"Food Co-ops in America contains a wealth of valuable historical information. It makes an important contribution to the history of food cooperatives in modern America."—Lawrence B. Glickman, Carolina Trustee Professor of History, University of South Carolina, author of Buying Power: A History of Consumer Activism

Food Co-ops in America

"Food Co-ops in America is an important and very well-written book. It will be of interest to many who study cooperatives, as well as the many more who participate in them and work to keep them afloat. Anne Meis Knupfer presents compelling and thought-provoking studies of individual cooperatives, based on extraordinary levels of research, in a very readable manner."—Tracey Deutsch, author of Building a Housewife's Paradise: Gender, Politics and American Grocery Stores in the Twentieth Century

Food Co-ops in America

"Anne Meis Knupfer makes a compelling case for creating and sustaining food co-ops where lively political, social, and economic discourse converge on the all-important topic of food. Food Co-ops in America is a great book for anyone interested in the lessons and challenges of alternative economics."—Steve Alves, documentary filmmaker, Food For Change

Food Co-ops in America

"Anne Meis Knupfer's book is not only an outstanding historical resource for both present and future generations of cooperators but also a fascinating read. Her insightful commentary inspires reflection on what it means to be a cooperative and challenges cooperatives to play a more politically active role in the welfare of their communities."—Rosemary Fifield, Director of Education and Member Services, Co-op Food Stores (Hanover and Lebanon, NH, and White River Junction, VT), author of The Co-Op Cookbook